Own nothing
Amy and Sheldon were driving home in relative silence. Sheldon was looking out the side window thinking about what was going to happen when they got back to the apartment. None of the guys were available, so he would be alone with Amy.
Amy turned to Sheldon. "Sheldon, considering that everyone is apparently otherwise detained with their own activities, I propose that we stop for dinner."
Sheldon looked over, a little nervous. "What? Amy, you know that tonight is Thai food night".
Amy smiled. "Yes, Sheldon, I know. That's why I think that we should stop off at Siam Palace for a relaxing evening. Consider it in keeping with your new policy of having additional time alone together".
Sheldon gulped slightly. "All right".
Amy pulled into the Siam Palace parking lot parking fairly close to the door. Sheldon got out and ran around to the other side of the car, offering Amy his arm as they walked up to the restaurant door. Sheldon opened the door for Amy and motioned for her to go in first. Amy was stunned by this polite act. "Sheldon, thank you, this is so romantic".
Sheldon smiled and commented. "There's no reason that we shouldn't be polite and civilized". They sat down at a quiet table in the corner of the restaurant and very pleasant dinner. Sheldon made small talk about the old kingdom of Siam and all of the changes that happened in the region. Amy couldn't care less what happened to the geopolitical landscape of that part of the world. She just liked hearing Sheldon talk, the words that seemed to glide out of his mouth driven by that beautiful mind. She was in complete awe of the amount of knowledge he had stored up just waiting for an outlet that would listen to him.
Amy then thought of how it must have been growing up as Sheldon, walled off from all the other children, held captive by his inability to properly socialize with anyone on their terms. She then thought of their group of friends and was thankful for them. Sheldon had finally found friends that accepted him for who he was and didn't hold it against him. How comforting for him to find this group of friends. Sheldon continued to drone on with the little known facts of the Far East.
Amy was worried how Sheldon would react to the changing conditions of their group dynamic. Leonard and Penny's time had been increasingly taken up by the children. Bernadette and Howard seemed to be on the verge of starting a family of their own. Raj and Alex were currently maneuvering the choppy waters of a new relationship. That left Sheldon with only one known outlet for socialization, herself.
Amy saw that Sheldon had stopped his oration on Siam and was pleased with himself smiling sweetly obviously waiting for a response from her. Amy was overtaken by emotion. She leaned over and kissed Sheldon full on the mouth. Sheldon, to her surprise, did not pull away. In fact, Sheldon reached over and pulled Amy closer. Their kiss was different from any they had had in the past. It was awkward at first but became very tender as they separated.
The rest of the meal was somewhat quiet. Not awkward, but the conversation had changed to current events and what each of them were working on in each of their professional lives. Sheldon even seemed to be interested in the project that she was involved with. That was something that he had never done, and certainly would not admit to. Amy smiled sweetly back to him. When the dinner had ended, Amy drove Sheldon back to his apartment and bid him good night. Sheldon retired to his apartment and pondered what had happened over dinner.
Howard lay on his back with Bernadette nestled comfortably on his shoulder. Bernadette just smiled into his shoulder while Howard was breathing heavily. "Bernie, that was fantastic. I can't believe that you changed your mind".
Bernadette sat up. "Howie can I ask you something?"
Howard sat up as well. "Sure, honey, you can ask me anything".
Bernadette leaned over and nuzzled into her husband's shoulder. "What do you think it will be like if we do have children?"
Howard just tilted his head thinking. "I don't know, it will be different. I think that it is something that will definitely change who we are, I mean, we will be responsible for someone else. I only had a Dad until I was eleven. We used to do stuff together, but when things started to get rough, he wasn't around. I never had someone to talk to about… you know… guy stuff".
Bernadette questioned. "What do you mean rough"?
Howard thought a little. 'Well, when you're small, everything seems so easy, you take things at their face value, you trust everyone. When you get older, you start to question everything. You want answers to things. Kids start to pick on you if you're different. I never had a Dad to talk to about stuff like that. When I would get picked on for being so small and when I had questions about girls and stuff."
Bernadette felt bad. "Oh Howie, I'm sorry… but you had your mom right?"
Howard smiled a little. "Yeah, and she tried to be everything to me. Sometimes too much. She put me into one of those Karate schools so I could learn how to defend myself, and she signed me up for all those summer camps and math camps and stuff. It's just not the same. What about you?
Bernadette thought about her childhood. 'You really already know, I had to take care of my brothers and sisters so my mom could go to work. It really wasn't so much fun. I just hope that things are different for our kids if we have any".
Howard hugged Bernadette. "Things will be way different. I'll never leave, and I won't let you or our child down. Not EVER, I promise. And You will be such a great mom. I can tell with the way you are with Jenny and Max. And our kids will already have friends. Because we have the best friends there are. Howard asked sheepishly, "So what do you want to do now?"
Bernadette answered with a smile on her face, "Well, the Doctors orders were for Three times a day…. And we have to stay away from Sheldon for a while to give Amy more alone time."
Howard perked up. "What do you say we go up to the Napa Valley for a little romantic getaway?"